I have Lightroom 5 installed on the machine as well, but rarely use it for editing. I do use it for tethered shooting. Most of my serious editing is done on a desktop using a large calibrated and profiled IPS screen. Anything I start on the laptop, gets polished on the desktop when I get home.

Laptops are terrible for editing because of their poor quality displays and small screen size; very few come with IPS displays and touch screens appear to use TN technology that really does not have great colour reproduction accuracy. The finger marks are not really an issue; the screens have been designed knowing that these will occur and it is less of an issue than I would have thought. That being said, a touch screen on a laptop or desktop is not a terribly useful feature; having to move you hand from a horizontal surface with a keyboard or mouse to vertical surface (the screen) is not a particularly efficient or natural workflow.

Windows 8 is okay, but one has to do a bit of work to make it usable. The tile interface is terrible if you have a reasonably decent amount of software running and I have installed "Classic Start Menu 3" as a work-around.

Do yourself a favour and stay away from a laptop for editing work as it is painful at best; and while Windows 8 is designed for a touch screen, it is not a terribly useful way to use a computer.

Re: Window 8 & Lightroom

Just to clarify, I am considering a laptop for travel to download picture, gross screening of photos and saving to a hard drive for final editing at home on my desktop. So the laptop is not my main editing computer. l am considering something light, thin and easily carried. Looking at screen sizes of 13 - 14 inches. Any suggestions?

Re: Window 8 & Lightroom

Originally Posted by Dr Bob

Just to clarify, I am considering a laptop for travel to download picture, gross screening of photos and saving to a hard drive for final editing at home on my desktop. So the laptop is not my main editing computer. l am considering something light, thin and easily carried. Looking at screen sizes of 13 - 14 inches. Any suggestions?

Dr Bob

Are you happy with your desktop? If so, you may want to start there as an entry point regarding a particular brand. IMHO asking what type of laptop to purchase without further information of what you expect (besides the aforementioned descriptors) is difficult without more information (e.g. size of hard drive, what you are willing to spend?).
Do you want one that is custom made based on your specifications?
I could tell you what laptop I have, but w/o further information on what you are looking for, it may not be the computer for you.

Re: Window 8 & Lightroom

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Thanks Manfred for the comments on Windows 8. I just ordered an ASUS U47VC-DS51 that is a Windows 7 system. Looking forward to using it on an upcoming trip for screening and transferring photos to an external hard drive for later editing back home.